Freshman Series Dominate Emmy Nominations

The freshman class of TV shows did well in the nominations for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, announced \before dawn Thursday in Los Angeles.

"Glee" led all broadcast series with 19; "Modern Family" got 14, "The Good Wife" got nine. The most nominated program with 24 overall was HBO's wartime miniseries from Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, "The Pacific." But another series on HBO only got a couple of nominations for a first year series from David Simon, "Treme."

Amid the variety shows there was a nomination for a first year late night attempt that didn't last a year: "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" (no such nomination was forthcoming for Jay Leno, whom the network put into his time slot).

It's up against a show that just set a record for most nominations in Emmy history with 126: "Saturday Night Live" is up for a dozen nominations this year, its 34th season.

Some heritage shows were honored as they were leaving the air: 12 for "Lost" and five for "24."

There were holdovers from past Emmys as well with boilerplate nominations for Tony Shalhoub in "Monk," or Mariska Hargitay for "Law & Order: SVU." But Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler got first time nominations for their work in "Friday Night Lights," the critical favorite which runs first on satellite before it gets to NBC.

Here's a list of the major nominees:

BEST COMEDY

"Curb Your Enthusiasm"

"Glee"

"Modern Family"

"Nurse Jackie"

"The office"

"30 Rock"

BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Toni Colette, "United States of Tara"

Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie" Tina Fey, "30 Rock"

Julia Louis-Dreyfus "The New Adventures of Old Christine"

Lea Michele, "Glee"

Amy Poehler, "Parks and Recreation"

LEAD ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"

Steve Carell, "The Office"

Larry David "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

Matthew Morrison, "Glee"

Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory"

Tony Shalhoub, "Monk"

OUTSTANDING DRAMA

"Breaking Bad"

"Dexter"

"The Good Wife"

"Lost"

"Mad Men"

"True Blood"

LEAD ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

Connie Briton, "Friday Night Lights"

Glenn Close, "Damages"

Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special victims Unit"

January Jones, "Mad Men"

Juliana Marguilies, "The Good Wife"

Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

LEAD ACTOR IN A DRAMA

Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"

Kyle Chandler, "Griday Night Lights"

Matthew Fox, "Lost"

Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"

Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"

Hugh Laurie, "House"

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Roger Catlin is TV critic for the Hartford Courant and writes a daily column about what's on television called TV Eye. He is also on the board of the Television Critics Association. Before all of this, he was rock critic ... read more